This is a past event
Elphinstone Institute Public Lecture Series
The Ardmaddy Wishing-Tree is a dead hawthorn lying prone beside a track on Ardmaddy Estate, Argyll, Scotland. It is known as the 'Wishing-Tree' because local custom avers that if you insert a coin into its trunk, your wish will be granted — and its coin-encrusted bark is testimony to the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who have observed this custom over the years.
The question of over how many years, however, is not a simple one to answer, for no primary sources have been identified which reference this custom and indicate how long it has been observed. It was therefore hoped that the material evidence of the coins and other deposits — many of which have fallen from the tree and become buried — would instead proffer an answer to this question. So in September 2013 a team of postgraduate archaeologists from the University of Manchester undertook a small-scale excavation at the site, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Their primary objective was to uncover as many deposits as possible to determine an approximate time-frame of deposition and to explore the different forms this custom has taken over the years.
This talk presents the results of the excavation, considers the history and 'meaning' of the wishing-tree, and discusses the usefulness of applying archaeological methodologies to folkloric practices.
Ceri Houlbrook obtained her PhD in Archaeology from the University of Manchester in 2014, The thesis, entitled 'Coining the Coin-Tree', used archaeological and anthropological methodologies in order to contextualise the contemporary British folkloric custom of coin-trees. Houlbrook's primary interests are the archaeology of contemporary folklore, ritual, and depositional practices, and is particularly interested in exploring how folkloric customs become acclimatised to different times and places, and the processes which lead to their survivals, revivals, and recontextualisations.
- Speaker
- Ceri Houlbrook
- Hosted by
- Elphinstone Institute
- Venue
- MR051, MacRobert Building
- Contact
-
No booking required
£3.00 admission, students free
All welcome